Grant County Oregon Gold Production
By A. H. KOSCHMANN and M. H. BERGENDAHL - USGS 1968
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The geology of the county, as summarized by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (1941, p. 14-15), includes rocks that range in age from Paleozoic to Tertiary. The oldest rocks are greenstone, argillite, and chert containing small lenses of Permian limestone. Several tens of thousands of feet of Upper Triassic and Jurassic rocks, mostly tuffaceous sandstone, shale, and some limestone, are exposed in the southwest part of the county. The Paleozoic rocks were intruded by peridotite, gabbro, and diorite, and all, including the Mesozoic rocks, were intruded by granodiorite. Tertiary rocks cover much of the county. These are the Clarno and John Day Formations (tuff, lava, and agglomerate of Eocene age), the Columbia River Basalt (Miocene age), Mascall Formation (tuffs that overlie the Columbia River Basalt), and Rattlesnake Formation (tuffs and lavas of Pliocene age).
Soon after the initial discoveries of placer gold at Griffin Gulch in 1861, discoveries were made at Sumpter and Canyon Creek, and by 1864 nearly all the mining districts of the Blue Mountains area were known (Lindgren, 1901, p. 563-564). The important gold-producing districts in Grant County were the Canyon Creek, Granite, Greenhorn (partly in Baker County), North Fork, Quartzburg, and Susanville.
From 1880 to 1899, Grant County produced $3,022,564 (about 146,000 ounces) in gold (Lindgren, 1901, p. 573). From 1904 through 1957 it produced 77,840 ounces of lode gold, 226,835 ounces of placer gold, and 19,967 ounces undifferentiated as to source. Approximate total gold production through 1959 was 470,600 ounces.
CANYON CREEK DISTRICT
The Canyon Creek district, which is between lat 44°11' and 44°30' N. and long 118°45' and 119°33' W. and includes most of the drainage area of the John Day River in Grant County, is noted chiefly for its gold placers along the river. Lindgren (1901, p. 717) estimated that the early production from these placers was about $15 million in gold (about 725,000 ounces). Hydraulic operations were conducted in the 1880's, and dredges were in operation sporadically after 1900.
Recorded gold production for the district from 1904 through 1959 was 899 ounces from lode mines, 91,711 ounces from placers, and 504 ounces from undifferentiated sources. Total production, including Lindgren's estimate of early production, was about 818,000 ounces.
Quartz veinlets containing rich pockets of native gold occur in carbonatized gabbro, serpentine, and greenstone in the vicinity of Little Canyon Mountain. Although these deposits were spectacular, they were small, and their production was not sustained.